(I had to look up 教養課程 as well as 四半期 to write the post, though I did know the latter, I just... didn't know I knew it.)

Hey man, just thought I'd point out a couple of little mistakes you made. Most of them are pretty easy to make so don't worry too much. Also sorry if I seem like a dick for correcting you, but any help is good right? Also if I've made any mistakes here then I hope someone points them out. I'm not quite a native level speaker but I've got quite a few years of XP under my belt now.

高校の最初の年から、最後の年まで日本語を勉強します

Need to check your tense there.

でも、大学に行って

If I'm getting your meaning correctly I think "iku" (行って as it appears) is the wrong verb here. While in English we might say "But I went to university and didn't use Japanese very much, so I forgot the grammar/vocabulary." we don't mean I went to university in the sense that "iku" portrays. We mean the verb 入る usually.

ふたつ四半期に日本語のクラスを取りました

If you meant to say "In the second quarter I took a Japanese class" then you need to use the ordinal number two here ie ふたつめの四半期

今、クラスを取りませんですけど

In this case using 取っていません might be more appropriate.

たくさん漢字がありませんから

This is an easy mistake to make... If you mean to say there aren't many Kanji, then you shouldn't use たくさん with a negative verb like that. あまり～ない or 少ない should be used in it's place. Even though it confuses our English speaking brains by seeming like a double negative (which happens every now and again with Japanese).

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.

Thanks for all that. Yeah, looking back on that, I totally massacred tenses. I was pretty unsure about the たくさん。。。ありません, so it's good to know that. It'll take a while to get used to, since it is so different from English.

Jamotron wrote:Pretty hard to give it an exact meaning, but it's similar to "yo". Sometimes I just think of it as an exclamation mark.

Zo is very abrasive, very assertive, and very, very male. This explanation is a good one:

Zo is harsh. Very harsh. There is no other particle more strongly male and abrasive. It is used exactly the same as yo, except only when you want to say something in the strongest possible terms, like right before you kick someone in the face, or smash them to tiny pieces with a giant robot.

Women, stay far, far away from this particle unless you want to sound like a major tomboy.

Guys who use zo constantly are trying to sound extremely tough. So much, that you will rarely hear it used all that much outside of manga or anime.

When I'm having trouble with specific grammar or particle structures or whatnot, I tend to google something like "Japanese Zo" or "Japanese Zo Grammar" and find that one of the top few websites is usually pretty helpful in that regard. Better than you'd expect.

I kind of figured ぞ was some kind of powerful ending, though, given that the only exposure I've had to it is Bowser in SMRPG.

Joeldi wrote:Wow, that's really interesting - I was motivated to ask after my very softly spoken female friend encouraged me to がんばるぞ！I had heard it rather a lot beforehand in anime.

がんばるぞ is sort of grammatically ambiguous, but if she was actually saying ぞ as a motivation, it was probably in an ironically-cute way, i.e. "I'm not supposed to say ぞ but I am, that's how much I want you to がんばる!"

What I mean to say is:Hey, g'day everyone. How do you do? I want to practice my Japanese!A few years ago, I was a second-year student of Japanese at Harvard. But, unfortunately, since I do not practice it often now, I am quickly forgetting it. ...really, I'm not sure whether or not I still remember it at all. But hey, that's why it's good to practice, eh?Well, nice to meet you. Later. (If someone who is handy at Japanese could correct my grammar mistakes and such, I'd appreciate it!)

I've spent the last six months studying classical Japanese and it has brought me a lot of clarity regarding modern Japanese grammar and etymology. I did a quick google search as a refresher re: みたい, らしい, etc. and found this (free?) PDF eBook by Michiel Kamermans. I've only looked at a few pages, but it looks to be a fairly good resource covering most of Japanese grammar using the correct Japanese terms but explaining in plain English with examples. His explanations are a little oversimplified in places, and I've found a few I disagree with, but I think it might still be a useful reference for you and others. Also, the grammar dictionaries he references on page 333 were written by a professor I know and are indeed quite excellent. For the discussion on speculation grammars, see pg. 280-288.

Congratulations on your graduation. Sounds fascinating. What do you plan to do with your skills? I was going to major in linguistics, but switched off it for maths.

I've spent the last six months studying classical Japanese and it has brought me a lot of clarity regarding modern Japanese grammar and etymology. I did a quick google search as a refresher re: みたい, らしい, etc. and found this (free?) PDF eBook by Michiel Kamermans.

Jamotron wrote:Are you using 言いたかった here to mean "wanted to say"? Usually you only use stem+たい for what you want to do. When talking about someone else use たがる。

True in the classroom but not in practice. In eight years, I'm not sure I recall /ever/ hearing a native speaker use たがる form. Your advice in つもり is spot on, though.

I disagree. I've heard -たがる used often in the proper context, while speaking and in speech. You'll usually hear it in present progressive form (-たがって/-たがっている), and normally in situations where you're relaying what someone else says (but not as a translation). So it may not stick out as much.

However, in that particular situation, 言ったつもり would've still been the more accurate thing to say. English uses the word "want" in a broader context, so you want to avoid a direct translation there.

Jamotron wrote:I don't think you need to use the で particle when talking about how long you've done something. E.g. 「私は日本語を三年間勉強しました。I studied Japanese for 3 years.」

What helps is to consider that lengths/periods/points of time function rather like adverbs. They describe the length of time that a particular action has been going on, and as such modify said action. That's one of the reasons that placement of it is rather flexible and they don't need particles to place them. 例：８年間日本語を勉強していた。 ／ 日本語を８年間勉強していた。例：今朝、朝ごはんを食べなかった。

An exception is if you're modifying it with something like ~の間に or such. KF

Jamotron wrote:Are you using 言いたかった here to mean "wanted to say"? Usually you only use stem+たい for what you want to do. When talking about someone else use たがる。

True in the classroom but not in practice. In eight years, I'm not sure I recall /ever/ hearing a native speaker use たがる form. Your advice in つもり is spot on, though.

I disagree. I've heard -たがる used often in the proper context, while speaking and in speech. You'll usually hear it in present progressive form (-たがって/-たがっている), and normally in situations where you're relaying what someone else says (but not as a translation). So it may not stick out as much.

Yeah, that's the situation that it makes sense in my head, but I just can't recall ever hearing it...

I'm tring to get into the swing of things with japanese self study, but I find that I need some direction. Are there any tips or recomended paths I could follow so as to make this process more cohesive?

I'm tring to get into the swing of things with japanese self study, but I find that I need some direction. Are there any tips or recomended paths I could follow so as to make this process more cohesive?

I've learned hiraganna and katakanna but I've hit a wall.

Notes: My end goal is to immigrate.

What materials are you using to study? The Genki! series of text books are used very widly and are considered pretty good. I used the second one in my first year at university, it was pretty decent. Suggest you also experiment with different methods of learning kanji, but really the best advice is to make sure you do a little bit each day and try to find a native speaker to chat with.

For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.

Translation: Hello! Nice to meet you! My name is Leslie. Next fall, I'll be a sophomore and a 3rd year Japanese student.

My hobbies/interests include reading, videogames, TV dramas, etc. I listen to a lot of music. In the near future, as a matter of fact, I want to major in either neuropsychology, sociology, music, or film. My Japanese isn't that good.

Yeah, so my Japanese isn't that good. I need looootsss of help with grammar and kanji (thank you auto conversion).

Kizyr wrote:I disagree. I've heard -たがる used often in the proper context, while speaking and in speech. You'll usually hear it in present progressive form (-たがって/-たがっている), and normally in situations where you're relaying what someone else says (but not as a translation). So it may not stick out as much.

I created an account partly to respond to this, and partly to join the discussion.

You pretty much covered it all, I just wanted to add that 〜たがる or 〜たがっている or any other conjugation is explained most simply like so: it is stating what someone who is not present wants to do.

Anywho, quick intro: I'm a graphic designer living and working in Osaka, Japan. I've been here for a couple years, and work hard every day to improve my Japanese. People have asked me over and over how to improve this or that, so I'm more than happy to help field any questions on this board. Oh, also worth pointing out: I learned Japanese in Osaka, so I can only speak Kansai dialect. I know a thing or two about Tokyo dialect and Standard Japanese, of course, but I don't exactly go out of my way to speak it

I'm also pretty decent at helping guys stop talking like girls. Here's a hint, fellas: if you ever end a sentence with ね (unless you're speaking politely) or の, stop it.

Cooking Utensil wrote:I'm also pretty decent at helping guys stop talking like girls. Here's a hint, fellas: if you ever end a sentence with ね (unless you're speaking politely) or の, stop it.

The thing is: This is the xkcd fora. I've not been exposed to a community more adamant about gender equality and the blurring of lines between male and female. I'm sure there's a section of people here who would see merit in going out of their way to speak a vernacular they are not culturally expected to. I'm partly like that, but also am interested in such quirks of language, as well as being scared of ostracism and ridicule. Oh well.

I already have a hate thread. Necromancy > redundancy here, so post there.

roc314 wrote:America is a police state that communicates in txt speak...

Out of curiosity, and because I'd feel way too awkward asking my 先生, but what would be expected for a gay man's speech style, if anything? Right now I just try to avoid using really masculine or feminine things, but I was wondering if there was any sort of precedent to follow here. (On that note, what is the appropriate way to even say gay? My dictionary is being useless, and I'm afraid I can never get nuance right when I look in huge online ones...)

Graagh wrote:Out of curiosity, and because I'd feel way too awkward asking my 先生, but what would be expected for a gay man's speech style, if anything? Right now I just try to avoid using really masculine or feminine things, but I was wondering if there was any sort of precedent to follow here. (On that note, what is the appropriate way to even say gay? My dictionary is being useless, and I'm afraid I can never get nuance right when I look in huge online ones...)